Age of Darkness
by DolceCantabile
Summary: The bloodshed continues. Every day, more of the warm, wet liquid slowly seeps into the soil. 'I will be the one to end this war,' a young hybrid thinks as the rest of the world hopes for a new day...one without the tragedy that comes with war.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Neither Shortie nor I own Maple Story - however Shortie owns these characters and obviously the plot of the fanfic. And me? Well I own the little authors' note at the bottom. So shoo, thieves! 

Please note that this is a sequel to Shortie's other story, the Way of the Assassin. If you would like to read that first before beginning this one, please go to Kalypto's profile. If not, that's fine, because this story can stand on its own So far, anyway┘

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Prologue

Miriam ┘ she is the person who brought this war upon us, the leader of the Celestials. A master of darkness and necromancy, she has brought darkness upon the once peaceful land of Maple.  
The war has lasted for over two years; many warriors from the beginning had died from the countless assaults of The Celestials and the monsters under their command.  
My name is Arcanus Xecarus. I am as of today fifteen years of age and I have fought in this war since I was thirteen. I have no real advancement, rather with all. I was born with the abilities of bowmen, rogue, mage, and warrior. I had the strength of a warrior, the dexterity of a bowman, the speed of a thief, and the intelligence level of a mage. I was one of the most prized warriors of the Maple army, combining speed, strategy, and strength; I could kill almost everything I faced.  
There is a war-legend of an assassin named 'Schyth.' He was supposed to have been an amazingly powerful assassin who had the ability to copy the skills of anyone he saw, sadly, he was taken by grief at the loss of his loved one and he left with his equally amazing brother to train.  
No one has actually seen him after he left, but legends of his feats travelled across Victoria. It was stated that he alone had infiltrated the castle of the Celestials and attempted an assassination on its leader. There was, however, no word on its success or failure.  
There were four people who continuously looked for him at any free moment and they were said to be his old team mates. They were Kenneth Raksa, a powerful crusader with the power of a necromancer, Felix Ventus, a bowman blessed with the power of the wind, Aella Lacota, a hybrid arch mage with the powers of the four magician elements, and Frey Hope, the woman Schyth fell in love with and thought had died. She had flat-lined as part of her recovery progress, or so the doctors said, and right after Schyth had left she regained consciousness.  
The war shall continue for much much longer. Miriam's forces do not ever seem to diminish and neither does our power seem to mitigate. There are small to large skirmishes every day and many of forces of each side perishes.  
I have sworn to myself to be here as one of those to end this war. I do not aim to die anytime soon and with my weapons, I will defeat Miriam and her Celestials!

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Authors' Note: Haha! Guess who's back! Yes, it's me, Kalypto, and of course our beloved author Shortie (who's currently doing his religion homework- yes, we're Roman Catholic, don't like? Deal with it) So. After plenty of persuasion, I've managed to get Shortie to start writing again. Welcome to the sequel to the Way of the Assassin!  
Shortie: Sure?  
Kalypto: Meh. Anyways, this story will be great! Action, adventure, humour, and even - guess what? - romance! Mwa ha ha!  
And with any new story, it deserves a new poll! So what I would want to ask is, how many of you beloved readers actually read these notes? I think I may have asked you this before, but it's always good to be updated!  
Shortie: Are you really that bored?  
Kalypto: Yes! Enjoy the story, everyone!

Oh, and please note there may be a long time gap before any of the chapters come out. Sorry for the inconvenience!


	2. Resolution

Disclaimer: Maple Story belongs to Wizet, not us. Disclaimer done.

**Note**: Please read the Author(s)' Note at the bottom of the page.CHAPTER 1

Chapter One  
Resolution

I put on my simple clothes, a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. They were mostly the only things my parents had given me, and the only thing I could have ever afforded.

Though I was of amazing prowess and adroitness, I was never really rich. Though I was murderous in battle, I preferred to donate most of my money, except the amount I needed for the bare essentials to the poor.

The ones who are unfortunate enough to have had their homes ravaged by the soldiers of Miriam needed the support of everyone that would give it to them. Sadly, many of the powerful officers of our army are somewhat corrupt and prefer to spend their money on things to make their life as comfortable as possible. It seemed they never once thought about donating any money to the victims of war.

I knew however, that the looks they give you when you give them money with a smiling face was worth more than anything anyone could have purchased with money. Their looks of gratitude were priceless.

Every time I looked at them as they received the money I strengthen my resolution to defeat Miriam. I strapped my Black Metus on my back, locked my Dragon Caesar on my waist, fitted my Dragon Black Sleeve on my left hand, sheathed my Blue Screamer and placed it on my back, beside the Metus, turned my Sparta into a comfortable ring and placed it onto my middle finger, minimized my Dragon Staff, placed it as an earring and readied myself.

Today I was supposed to lead a small squadron to attack a small village, taken over to become the base of Celestial Mortals. We are to eradicate the Celestials and bring hope back to the village, and then recruit the ones we can to fight the army of Miriam.

The Three Wise Men and Woman have built an alliance with the elves, and they decided to erect a special academy for the training of warriors to combat The Celestials, we named our elite group, "The Hope."

The Hope was compiled of the best fighters in our army and was all at least in the level of the Immortals of Celestials.

I walked across the green fields of Ellinia, dried leaves and broken twigs snapping and crunching underneath my feet. I walked swiftly to the academy, its large wooden doors getting larger and closer as I walked.

I stepped onto the marble stone porch, the black statues of gargoyles stood on both sides of me, each one as large as me.

I pushed the large doors open and walked into the majestic halls. The main hall was of a great arch, its walls filled of holes which led into dimensional training grounds.

Each little hole on the wall was the size of one human, inside was a whole other dimension and the space within was infinite. A normal Hope member could train within it and attack and train with all their power and disrupt nothing of the outside world. Each of the rooms were enchanted with a barrier of power, space, and time by Grendel himself allowing one to train without interference of limited space or time.

I walked past the training rooms and into the final door in the end of the hallway, in it was my awaiting students, and troops.

"Master!" They all exclaimed as I entered, falling to their knees.

"Rise, we must be on our way," I said back as my students started to bow their heads.

I turned around and snapped my fingers, I heard a rush of robes and I knew my students had stood up. I walked swiftly out of the academy and sped towards the village with my students close behind me.

The soft crackle of leaves and wood underneath my feet turned into a slow beat of clicks and clacks as the terrain changed into the reddish desert of Perion.

The cool and soft breeze of Ellinian forests turned into harsh, unrelenting, hot and stinging blast of sand gales.

Taking a bandana out of my sleeve I fixed it upon my face, blocking my eyes and nose, protecting them from the blasting sand pieces.

"We're close!" I yelled behind me, "Stay strong!"

"Yes master!" the students replied in practiced unison.

I smiled, I've always loved my students as if they were my siblings, and especially with my abilities I was able to train people from any of the four classes.

The silhouette of the village appeared on the horizon and I quickly sped up. Running quickly across the barren lands I reached the village in no time.

With the power of the bowman's soul arrow I formed soul shuriken and shot it to begin the fight.

The shuriken met its mark and two Sin were felled. Short squeaks and roars were heard as the Sin and its Immortal commander prepared for battle.

Black figures ran towards us brandishing pears and pole arms, I halted and pointed my finger towards them. My own army ran towards them as well, the warriors in the first line revealing the cruel blades of their swords, spears, axes, and pole arms. Assassins and bandits came next, jumping and running with unmatched speed, with each flick of the wrist and slash of their daggers an enemy was extirpated. The bowmen and mages stayed behind, shooting arrows and casting spells.

I watched for a mere five seconds, then I myself charged.

"FOR FREEDOM!" I shouted.

"FOR PEACE!" my troops shouted back.

"Kyahhhhhh!" the Sin shouted in their own tongue.

Suddenly I felt much more powerful presences. These were Angel ranked Celestials, their aura was astounding. None of the ones under my command had power even close to those quickly approaching.

I was sure I would be able to face one of them, but there were more than ten coming now.

"RETREAT! FALL BACK!"I shouted to my troops.

"MASTER!" they shouted back, all forming a neat line as they retreated.

The Angels had come; their outline was blurred against the white desert sun as they calmly sprinted towards me.

I nervously drew my Blue Screamer and stood my ground. In a flash the Angels were in front of me. Three were bowmen; four were warriors, two assassins, and one mage.

They stood facing me, all of equivalent height and covered with a black cloak. I held my Blue Screamer steady.

"Charge," the middle bowman said, and so they did. Nine of the ten Celestials attacked, with the middle bowman brandishing his Dragon Shinebow, a soul arrow appearing, and me dodging within a hair's breadth.

"Cowards," I hissed, "ten on one."

"Chill out m' man, we's was just kidding, the bowman up ther' wil' tend to yah," said one of the warriors, "While we kill those behind you," and his eyes gleamed at that.

My eyes widened at this statement and, unknowingly, fell into their trap. "NO! Leave them ALONE!" I screamed at them.

"If y' say so," he said, grinning again. I felt a blast of air and I was surrounded by all ten Angels. I had arrows, blades, shuriken, and a staff pointed at me.

In an unspoken command from the middle bowman, weapons were fired at me from every direction, covering a clear 360 degree angle, leaving no room for escape.

In a split second I would have died, but an instinct lying dormant in me released all my mana in an upward draft, sending the attacks flying up, bringing astonished looks into the face of the Angels.

"Quite amazing, however, it seems you've used up everything you had in that attack," the lead bowman said as I skidded away from the circle.

I panted heavily, and bared my weapons, if I was to die, I would die with honour.

Streaks of colors flew towards me, the attacks of the Angels were amazingly powerful, and with my depleted mana, I had no more strength to block.

I dropped my head as a sign of defeat, but I did it slow enough to catch a barrage of whizzing black Ilbis, flying by me.

The Ilbis and the Angels' attacks collided with a clang of steel on steel. The arrows and mana blasts fell to the ground and dissipated.

I heard sharp cries from the Angel's and looked to see them holding red maple leaf shaped stars lodged in their throats.

"The stars are lodged at that angle, therefore the person who threw them … must be THERE!" I calculated, whipping around to see the person who saved me.

There stood two black silhouettes, and as if in a story, their capes billowed in the wind. The two were back to back, one held a dozen of Ilbis in both hands; the other held the mystical Maple Stars.

I was wondering to myself, "who are they?" when a voice rang clear in my head.

We are the Hirazen brothers, Schyth and Blade. We have sensed the power of the Angels surrounding yours and came as quickly as we could. We have eliminated the danger for now, but we must ask you not to reveal our whereabouts. My brother, Blade, and I, Schyth are in the middle of training, and must not be disrupted. We shall finish the Sin here and send the survivors of the village back to Ellinia, but now you must lead your troops back home.

"Wait!," I shouted in my mind, "The woman, Frey, she's alive!" I said, recognizing the man as the legendary assassin, Schyth. I was unprepared for what was to happen next. A powerful surge of emotions and relief completely overwhelmed me, I too started laughing.

Is that true? Thank God. But I still must ask you to not tell anyone you have seen me, I will come back.

And with that, I felt the two powerful figures dart off towards the village, and in roughly ten seconds, all the presence I had felt of the sin were gone. Dissipated. Then I felt their presence disappear, leaving nothing behind.

A clank of metal made me turn around. The lead bowman had pulled the Maple Star out of his neck and has stood up; however, he looked drained and pale.

With a snap of my fingers my students rushed around him and pointed their weapon menacingly.

"I will be back, to kill you." And he disappeared.

"We must go to the village and recruit the men," I ordered. My soldiers ran to the village and knocked the doors of every single house in the village. They sped through their job, bringing every able bodied man into their ranks, forming a circle and ushering the women, children, and seniors into the middle of their large circle.

"MARCH!" I yelled as the final villagers were readied. At that we began to continue the tedious march back to Ellinia, no longer able to run as we did before for the villagers slowed us down. My mana was also exhausted, slowing me down.

The journey back took us six days, as opposed to the one it took us to get here. By the third day most of my mana had returned, allowing me to scout and fight as many rogue monsters ambushed us on the road, seeking to kill us.

As the desert lands turned back to the lush forests of Ellnia, I breathed easier. The heat and smog replaced with the smell of a forest and cool winds. Invigorated by home, our soldiers marched quickly, ushering the villagers along as fast as they possibly could.

As the final day of our journey back came to night, the tall houses of Ellnia came to view and excitement spread throughout my soldiers. I sighed openly, glad to be back home being a nature lover, I've always hated Perion.

Turning around I faced my soldiers, "take the villagers to the elves' villages, they'll decide where to put them," I instructed.

"Master!" they said in collaborated unison while marching away to escort the villagers to the villages of the elves, which was located in the northernmost parts of Ellinia. It was a wondrous place, overflowing with the most beautiful flowers.

I myself jumped quickly through the maze of trees to reach the house of Grendel, within which The Dark Lord, Athena, Grendel, Dances with Balrog, and Bleed, the master of Elves resided, discussing plans of attack.

A small door of sapphire covered the entrance into his house, and I opened it with some difficulty. The furniture and books that usually covered the floors were cleaned up and replaced by a large oval table, complete with sixteen chairs. The Four Wise Men and Bleed already sat, followed by Felix, Kenneth, Aella, and Frey.

"Come, and fill the tenth chair," Grendel spoke.

"Join us, please, we've not much time," Athena said quickly.

"To whom belong the other six chairs?" I willed myself to ask.

"I believe two will come in due time, the other four belongs to other four commanders of our army," The Dark Lord this time, his voice rough.

"THEM? They are cruel, heartless, and self centered, we have yet no reason to trust them," I shouted in outrage, memories flooding back to me.

"We understand your vendetta against them Xecarus, and it is justified, however, they are the four most powerful after us, and we need their strength," Dances spoke up finally, voice as scalding as the blazing suns of his homeland.

"Cih, they are corrupt fools who would kill innocents who get in the way, how could you trust them?" I asked my voice venomous.

"Enough of this idiocy. Your opinion has been acknowledged, however, in times of war, the past and personal vendettas CANNOT BE VALUED!" and that was Bleed, deadly in battle, the queen of Elves, and a strict enforcer of laws and courtesy.

I took a seat besides Kenneth, a hardened warrior, his hair spiked and his ruby armour glistening red under the glow of Grendel's illuminating orb. His face was chiselled and his jaw squared, his eyes were cold, paradoxically, black flames seeming to flare inside them. He sat quietly, his sword of bone on the floor beside him.

"Fine, when will they be coming?" I inquired.

"They are here," Grendel replied coolly.

Four different figures darted from the sapphire doorway, each as a bold streak of colour, red, black, blue, and green.

"Master!" each exclaimed as they knelt before the masters of their class. The black cloaked knelt before the Dark Lord who impassively waved a hand, the blue cloaked before Grendel, the red cloaked before Dances, and the green cloaked before Athena, all of whom shook hands and then sat down.

I hissed as they sat beside me and was silenced with a look from Grendel. The assassin pretended to take no notice of me and silently greeted everyone else.

Controlling anger I smiled at the sole female bowman within the four, she was not one of them before, I mused. She noticed me looking at her and smiled back, slightly blushing.

I turned away and focused back on the situation at hand. "Master Grendel, who are the other two? Or are we to start without them?"

"Patience my boy, they will be here in three … two … one …" came the reply.

And that moment a great surge of power came from the entrance and all eyes spun to that direction. Two figures dressed in black, each with power as great as the four Wise Men and Bleed, entered. A sob from across the table brought my eyes to focus on Frey, the female cleric was crying.

"We have come," a voice said in my head. At that moment the memory broke through from my mind, the Hirazen brothers had returned, Schyth and Blade.

In a blue flash Frey disappeared and reappeared in front of Schyth, jumping right as she landed and grasping Schyth into a tight embrace. The assassin's eyes were teary, and so were the cleric's.

The embrace and tears lasted for just under ten seconds as Grendel needed to address the matter at hand. "So now that we are all assembled again, we must talk about this plan."

"Begin, we are listening," Schyth said, though not commanding.

"It is time for us to launch a full scale assault," Grendel paused to let the gasps cease, then continued," if we wait any longer, Miriam will be able to increase her powers even more. As the Hirazen brothers have come back to us, our power has also grown significantly, WE MUST STRIKE!"

"I agree with Grendel, the choice is clear, FOR THE FREEDOM OF MAPLE!" the Dark Lord shouted, much to everyone's surprise.

"TO ARMS!" everyone else shouted as the choice became clear.

"Inform everyone of the decision, we shall form the true strategy an hour from now, and within that time, prepare yourself for battle," Grendel said, his authority clear we rushed out of the room and began to ready the town of Ellinia for war.

Hopping from door to door I knocked and told the inhabitants of the house to ready themselves for the first full scale assault of the war. I could feel that Ellinia was roused, excitement and fear radiated from its inhabitants.

Forty five minutes had passed since Grendel had decided to launch a full-scale assault and everyone within Ellinia had been informed as the numbers of people grew exponentially. With the final fifteen minutes I entered my house and showered.

"This might be the last hot shower I'm gonna have …" I said to myself, musing with the idea of death, "no, I will live to see the death of that fiend, Miriam."

I stepped out of the shower and dried myself with a towel, the continuing to put on my battle gear. I was, however, still lacking armor. "Ehhh … whatever, I'll just borrow one from Kenneth or something."

As everything was set I set off for Grendel's home quickly, ten seconds until the meeting started. The foliage was a blur of green and yellow as I sped through them, arriving at the final second and sat down.

"Hey Kenneth, can I borrow an extra set of armor or something? I can't really afford one," I asked quietly.

"That will not be necessary," Grendel said, his keen hearing perceiving my request, "all commanders of our army will receive a special armor made by me."

"Oh, well that's great," I said, half annoyed that Grendel just revealed that I couldn't buy my own armor and half glad that I would be getting armor from Grendel himself.

With a flick of his wrist a bulky package appeared in front of everyone in the room. Everyone tore it apart, to find that Grendel had fallaciously wrapped a much smaller package within the large bulky package to make it seem powerful. In it were a black suit, a snow white dress shirt, black dress pants, and a black tie.

"Like, what the hell?" Kenneth asked.

Bleed, Grendel, Dances, Athena, and the Dark Lord laughed, "Told you it would have been funny," Grendel finally said as the laughter ceased.

"The suits are imbued with my magic, making them stronger than any other armor inside the Maple world. Test it out your selves," he explained, still grinning.

I personally took the challenge and stabbed it with full force. The suit stayed strong and my hands grew numb from the unexpected hardiness of the suit.

"Amazing. You must teach me how to do it at a later time master," I said.

"Perhaps my boy, but now it is time to get back into the business of war. The men are all readied yes?" was the reply.

"Yes they are, as are we," came the hissing voice of the black cloaked assassin.

"Then let us begin the strategizing," Grendel smiled again.

The meeting lasted approximate another hour, and by the time it was finished we were sure we were going to emerge victorious. The fear we once felt was replaced by confidence, such was the greatness of Grendel's master plan.

After the old wizard created dressing rooms I changed quickly from the t-shirt into the magical suit. It was surprisingly light and airy despite its heavy protection qualities. After experimenting a little I found the suit to be imbued with a great amount of mana, energy one can draw when he or she has run out of their own.

Giddy with excitement for battle I hopped out of the dressing room, arms out in a childish imitation of a bird, and bumping into the green cloaked girl, changed into the commander suit. "Whoops sorry! You okay?" I asked her, whipping my arms down quickly.

"Ummm … it's okay … were you trying to be a bird?" She asked, her face pointed down.

"Uhhhhh … nice day today isn't it?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes it is, but don't try to change the subject," she smiled.

"Fine, yes I was, birds are so free … and stuff …" I replied sheepishly.

She laughed rather silently, and it was rather like a chuckle, "I agree …" then she was silent. An uncomfortable silence.

"So what's your name?" I asked, and then fought to stop my hand from slapping myself.

"It's Ceres. Pleased to meet you, umm …" she answered, smiling.

"Arcanus. And the pleasure's all mine," I said, extending my hand to shake.

She took the hand and smiled. I think I blushed. "I think we better go back, the war will start soon," I said quickly.

"Agreed," she said nodding.

We walked quickly to the large oval table, sitting down in our previous spots. We were all dressed in the black suit provided by Grendel.

After a quick spell and briefing we were sent out to begin the war. I was assigned to my own soldiers and another five hundred thousand men. I walked out and saw a great sight of war. All the able bodied citizens of Maple world, gathered within smaller army divisions.

Ellinia was filled top to bottom with red cloaked soldiers to tell comrade from foe and great excitement rose from the crowd. I hopped down to meet my five hundred thousand men and commanded their attention.

"SOLDIERS OF MAPLE! TODAY WE FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOM! TODAY WE WILL STAND WITH PRIDE AT THE BATTLEGROUNDS! WE SHALL FIGHT! OUR WILL RESOLUTE AND OUR WEAPONS WILL GLISTEN WITH THE SPILT BLOOD OF THE CELESTIALS!" I yelled, raising their morale.

A great cry of agreement rose from all over Ellinia as other commanders gave a similar speech.

"TO WAR!" one commander screamed in the distance.

"TO WAR!" the rest of Ellinia echoed, their voice booming of the forests.

I commanded my army, the first battalion to march first. We were the first in line for war, we were to charge first and distract the army while the others set up camp. Then we are to be joined by Schyth and his men and we will obliterate the first wave of monsters and Celestials.

My battalion marched through the forest, leaves crunching underneath our boots. We proceeded quickly towards Sleepywood, the gloomy and dark woods. The dark twin of Ellinia and also the main headquarter of Miriam's army.

As the beautiful green trees turned into the black wood and rotting leaves of Sleepywood, I ordered my battalion to stop. We would now send a scout and a messenger to relay the message of our attack. To offer one final chance of peace before we go to an all out war.

Two horsemen were sent out with a flag of the Maple army and they galloped quickly down the Sleepywood path. It took nearly another four hours before they came back with news of Miriam's insults and challenge. After they relayed the message their body burst open and they lay on the ground, dead.

The other men in my battalion were both enraged and shocked as they saw the horrible atrocity of Miriam's nature. I was horribly disgusted; surely someone who could do such a thing deserves to die. This person, Miriam, had heard the message the two horsemen gave to her, placed a spell on them so they would return with HER message and destroyed them.

Burning with rage I took out my staff and summoned two pillars of fire. My summoned pillars of fire incinerated the two bodies and sent their ashes flying back to Ellinia. To be burned was of the greatest honors one could receive after dying; it was a ritual of respect during these dark days, to be once again part of the Earth.

After doing it, the pillars of fire manifested itself within my eyes, its everlasting inferno turning black as the night. Once again, my resolution renewed itself, filled with hate and revulsion at Miriam. Turning around I could see the same flames burning in my soldier's eyes.

"Tonight … we will destroy a great proportion of Miriam's army. To arms Soldiers of Maple. TO ARMS! NOW WE FIGHT, NOW WE WILL SLASH AND BURN AND FREEZE AND TEAR! NOW WE WILL BATHE IN THEIR BLOOD! NOW WE DESTROY THEM!" I spoke, not loud at first but then growing to a passionate scream.

The reply was quick, enthusiastic, and immediate, "TO WAR!"

At that signal every man inside the army took up their weapons and began the march to war. I was right there amongst them, my weapons ready, marching through the Sleepywood forests to the first wave of an all out war.

Tiny creatures such as mice scrambled out of the way of the Maple Soldiers as we crushed the ground beneath us. A few kilometres forward Miriam's own army could be heard, the inharmonious sound of hundreds of thousands of monsters and the bone chilling shrieks of the Celestials.

My army was quiet as we marched to the awaiting army of monsters and Celestials. Soon enough we were there, standing face to face to the Angelic commander of their army. He was a warrior, eyes black as the night, as was his hair, armor, sword, and cloak.

We stood in a large clearing inside the Sleepywood forests. It had clearly been freshly burned; my guess is that the army of Miriam did it themselves. It was large enough to accommodate both my army and Miriam's and therefore was astoundingly large. The trees surrounding were burned and ashes covered the grounds with small black and burnt twigs popping up from the cover of ash everywhere.

I raised my hand and slowly approached him and he did the same. We met in the centres and grasped the other's forearms, the way of greetings. I quietly muttered the question of how many was in their army and was answered with a grin and the mouthed number of one million strong. My gasp was only minutely audible as no others gave any signals of hearing it, then I recollected my calm and convinced myself that each of my men could kill at least three monsters and Sin.

The fires in my eyes rekindled I turned away and walked towards my own army as he did the same. Raising my Blue Screamer I shouted, "FIGHT TO YOUR GREATEST EXTENT MEN! EACH ONE OF US CAN TAKE DOWN THREE OF HIS!"

The Angel merely grinned and raised his own Black Screamer, a legendary sword made from the fusion of a corrupted soul and a Blue Screamer. When wielded by a powerful entity, it has the ability to call forth the spirits of the dead which will attack a designated target.

By some unspoken command, both armies charged at the other. The front line met with a clash of sword on teeth and claws. With a great scraping sound the swords slid off the teeth and claws and readied themselves for another attack. With a quick thrust some of the front line monsters were felled and the Maple Soldiers moved a little bit forward. I had jumped up to the air to see this exquisite view of war, but as I lowered in height I prepared my Blue Screamer and threw many Soul shuriken to the midst of powerful monsters underneath me.

The agonized howls of the gargantuan Werewolves and Lycanthropes and the pained roars of Cerberuses greeted me as I landed in a crumple of dead monsters, fizzing Soul shuriken lodged in their brains.

My Blue Screamer spelt death for many more monsters that came too close. A Werewolf that believed he to be a powerful one struck out with a claw. My sword came into contact with the claw with a thrust and split the arm into two pieces then cut it off the body. Werewolf blood spilt on the ground and glistened on my sword as I ran more to kill more monsters.

A powerful aura signified the Angel's presence near me and I immediately rushed to his position. The black clad warrior stood in the center of a clearing, no other battles went on near him. I approached him slowly and warily, this was a man that had enough power to rise to the second highest rank in the Celestials' army, was I powerful enough to defeat him?

"Name?" the Angel asked.

"Arcanus. Arcanus Xecarus.. And yours?" I replied.

"Analyx. Analyx Mort. Shall we begin?" He replied.

"Let's," I said dashing to him, sword raised. We met in a flurry of sparks, blue and black crashing head on. Blue and black sparks flew off in every direction creating a brilliant show of fireworks, inside however, Analyx and I used every single trick in our arsenal to best the other.

I spun on my heels and used the force from the spin to strike at his legs, he jumped and attempted to bring his sword down to cleave me in two. I sidestepped just in time in order to dodge the sword by a hair's breadth and thrust my sword to his face. He used his sword as a pole with which he spun around and brought his boots to swerve the sword to one side and summoned souls to attack me. I summoned mana to my claw and shot two soul shuriken at each soul. The explosion created by the two colliding forces was great and we used it to back flip, away from each other.

I let out a short gasp and said to Analyx, "you are powerful."

"As are you. It has been long since I met one that could last so long against me," he replied.

"Heh," I chuckled a while then I threw my Blue Screamer up into the air and brought out my bow. Charging up my mana, I let out four arrows towards Analyx. A burst of black light deflected the arrows and revealed a surprised Analyx.

"What are you … "he said, questioning my abilities.

"A master of all four classes," I said, teleporting behind him after catching my Blue screamer. I used his confusion and thrust my sword into his stomach, "finally finished."

"Wrong," a voice behind me said. I turned around quickly and did it quickly enough to see the Black Screamer morph into a Black Metus and a hurricane of arrows coming towards me. Summoning my mage powers I created a pillar of fire which incinerated the incoming arrows and saved myself.

"You have the ability of warrior, assassin, AND bowman?" I asked him, perplexed.

"You missed the power of the mage," He said calmly behind me.

My eyes widened in shock as I found another just like me. He was a master of all four classes; he is my evil counterpart I realized in shock. I readied myself again. My claw grew black as I created a clone; both me and my clone picked up our staves and summoned a great beast. Mine was of fire, my clone's of ice, and both our beasts and us charged at Analyx.

Analyx had done the same thing, all 4 of our summoned monsters met and my clone and I met him and his clone. Our power was even, our forces equal and our mana exactly the same. The battle around us was still going on, but we were oblivious to everything except our own battle. The fulmination that resulted evaporated the monsters and Celestials around us; luckily none of my soldiers were located near our battle.

Beads of sweat heavily ran down my face and his. We were quickly running out of mana and the next strike will surely be the last. I charged up the rest of my mana and my summoned beasts grew in size. Analyx did the same, black aura bursting out and seeping back and allowed his beasts to grow.

With a yell we charged at each other for the final time. It all happened in a flash. My sword and his met, then two souls came out of his sword and met with two of my shuriken. The explosion caused our eyes to burn out for a millisecond and we continued to fight. Jumping back we shot a storm of arrows towards each other and dashed under it, swords pointed. The tips met and we were both forced back. We teleported forwards and while our beasts and clone fought their own enemy summoned a full blast of magical fury. Blue and black collided and exploded, and unable to hold a sword due to our fatigue we simply put what left we had into our fists and punched the other's face. A great surge of pain burst through my eyes and I fell into a heap on the ground.

I opened my eyes after rubbing it for a while and saw my foe, Analyx, bleeding in his eyes. I looked at my hands and saw that blood covered it. "Shit," I cursed to myself and brought up my sword with a grunt of determination.

I wobbled towards Analyx and brought down the Blue Screamer into his stomach. He released a blood curdling scream that made me cover my ears in a desperate attempt to block out the sound. The scream died out eventually as he spoke, "you were an amazing foe. It is an honor to die in battle, killed by you," and he breathed his last breath.

My right eye burnt with a pain I could not dull, despite my attempts on easing the pain. The eyesight on my right eye grew duller every moment, cloaking my vision in red. Several Celestials approached me and tried to take my life but failed due to the heavy protection of Grendel's suit, they were then quickly dispatched by my soldiers.

"Commander, please, take a rest somewhere else. You cannot die yet!" a soldier of mine yelled out. I heeded his advice and ran off towards the woods. It took all I had not to collapse and when I finally did, it was somewhere far off from the raging battle.

It was dark outside when I awoke. It was with a jolt that I fell off a hammock and stood up in surprise, something was different. The world seemed so much smaller; there were many things that I now miss, like a tree that appeared out of nowhere.

"Owww …" I whined, rubbing my nose.

"Seems you haven't gotten used to it," a voice said making me wheel around. It was Schyth.

"Used to what?" I inquired.

"Your eyesight. Your right eye was badly damaged during your fight with the Angel and you were blinded in that eye. Tragic …" he said solemnly.

"My eye …" I said slowly as I raised a hand to cover my right eye. There was no difference in my field of vision. "No … it can't be …" I was overcome by emotions, gratitude that my eye was the only thing taken away from me and grief since I would not be of much more use in the battlefield against stronger opponents.

"Don't worry about it," his voice comforting, "our medical staffs are already working on an artificial eye to help you see. It'll work better than your original."

"I see…" I said, relieved. He patted me on the arm and went back on his way. I used my left hand to cover my right eye and walked on to find the medical tent, it was clear to be seen by everyone by a large heart to symbolize good health.

I walked around bumping into many others and apologized profusely each time. It took a small amount of time to locate the tent and I entered it, feeling the need for an eye.

"Hey uhhh …" I said nervously to one of the harried staff of the medical tent.

"Yes," she asked.

"I need … an eye …" I said, then finding how weird it must have sounded. The woman looked to be confused then a look of recognition flashed across her face.

"Ohh, you're the commander of the first battalion, you lost an eye right?" she asked.

"Yes …" I replied, the way she had said lost an eye was almost … as if it was normal.

"Well, it's being finished as we speak; shall I take you there to be implanted?" she asked, smiling.

"Ummmm, sure" I said slowly. She motioned for me to follow her as she moved down the tent that seemed to go on for eternity. I guess it was magic that made the inside of the tent so large, as if it was a humongous building. She stopped suddenly while I pondered the advanced magic that could have done such a trick, causing me to bump into her.

"Whoops, are we here?" I asked, rubbing my nose.

"Yes," she said, then as she saw me rubbing my nose, "my apologies."

I raised a hand to show I heard then followed her again into the room. It was a brightly lit room with many small machines.

"What're those?" I asked the woman.

"Eye makers," she said, sounding surprised at me not knowing what it was.

"I see…" I said, utter disbelief, "which one belongs to me?"

"I do believe that one …" she pointed to a machine by the corner. I thanked her as she walked out of the room and I proceeded to walk towards the machine. As I got closer, I noticed a white coated man standing in front of the machine, from a distance he seemed to be invisible due to the blinding light.

"I'm here about my eye … " I said to the white coated man.

"Ah yes, Arcanus was it?" he spoke gently, "well if you'll just come over here." I stepped over to come towards and he held up an eye of a brilliant crimson, I reached for it and it emitted a great red light and I raised up my hands to shield myself from it. 

**Author(s)' Note: **Hey all, Dolce here. Please note that this chapter was a kind of a test to see how many people are still interested in this story - it does not mean that it will be continuing on a regular basis. Shortie and I are extremely busy with school (among other rhings) right now, and things have been hectic. I can't promise you updates, but we'll try the best we can!

On another note, Shortie has brought up an interesting idea. Since I've been annoyingly persistent in telling him to write the second chapter, he proposed a deal: **he'll write one chapter for every chapter that I write. **In other words, yes, my work will be mixed in with his. For those of you who are probably asking if I'm any good, **I don't suggest reading some of my own fics** - they're both horribly outdated and will give you no accurate indicator of my current creative writing skills. I can't guarantee that my writing style will match Shortie's - I can tell you that we have complete opposite personalities - but if this works out, we'll continue with it. It would mean faster updates for you, and less exasperating for us. If it stinks, feel free to tell us (in a constructive way, please!) and we'll try to go back to the old Shortie-writes-everything way. Mmkay?

Alright then, if you're still interested in reading this story, review!

Thank you for taking the time to read this!


	3. Meeting

**Disclaimer**: Maple Story belongs to Wizet, not us. Characters created by Shortie, chapter written by…?

-

I'll be completely honest. This artificial eye thing? Not the most comfortable thing in the world. It feels like someone stuck a piece of glass up there, and that's not a pretty feeling. I'll have to admit though, it looks awesome - wonder if Ceres would like it? Heh, if she does, it'll definitely be worth the discomfort…Ack, focus! Focussing…Something happened in that last battle…it was something important…but I can't seem to remember it…

Oh, right! There was that other hybrid I was fighting! Psh, that's not important.…Oh, gods. There's another hybrid besides me! That's important! A hybrid of all four classes. A hybrid of all four classes who was out to get me.Who was he? I had always thought that I was a freak - one of Mother Nature's cruel jokes on humanity. According to Grendel, such a hybrid is one of a kind. So who was this Analyx? How were we created?

What if there are more?

In all technicalities, that should be impossible. A person is born with powers of one class, and one class only. That is the way of life, and that was how it has been for centuries.

Evidently, this law was proven wrong not only once, but twice. If Miriam has the power to create such hybrids…

No way. That's impossible. That's utterly and totally preposterous. It must have been a coincidence, that's all.

But the power Miriam would have if she could create more…

No. This piece of information will not be needed to be reported. The chance that Miriam is able to create more like me is so slim, that if I bring it up, it will only cause unnecessary stress.

_But what if she is able to?_

Fortunately, my brooding was interrupted by Ceres - not that I'm complaining, of course. She put her bow down and sat beside me on the leafy branch. A comfortable silence took over us.

"Nice eye," she said, breaking the silence.

I grinned. "Thanks. I had always wondered what it would be like to have a glass ball poked up my eye socket."

She giggled, then her expression turned serious. "How long will this war go on for?" she asked quietly.

I stared. It was such a serious question…so unexpected…

"I don't know," I confessed, "to be honest, I really didn't think it would drag on this long in the first place. I thought it would be short, and all of the job instructors would be able to defeat Miriam. But obviously that wasn't the case."

Ceres sighed. "So many people dead…" she said mournfully. I didn't know what to say, so I just shrugged.

"They knew the dangers of war…they died protecting their world," I replied after a while.

Ceres stared hard at me. "You mean to say they died honourably?" she asked. Once again I was at a loss for words. So I shrugged again.

She stared at me some more, then sighed again. "20 893," she said.

"Huh?"

"That's how many people have died since I joined."

"Oh."

"That's how many sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, fathers, and mothers were ripped apart from their family. That's how many friends that some people will never see again. That's how many…" her voice trailed off, her expression unreadable. Then she sighed again. "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I didn't mean to depress you."

I smiled at her. "Nah, it's fine."

We sat in silence for a few more minutes, enjoying the peace that we were able to attain these past few days. No doubt it would be short-lived.

"Thank you," she finally said.

"Huh?"

"Thank you for listening."

"Oh. Uh, you're welcome," I said, still a bit confused. But it was obvious that the subject was closed.

She rose to her feet, then brushed off her clothes. She gave me a smile, then turned to go back inside.

"You seem like a nice person, Arcanus. I look forward to meeting you again."

I grinned. Score!

"Thanks. See you around?" I said hopefully.

She turned to look at me, her expression unreadable. "Sure," she said, then walked back into the building.

I stood there grinning like an idiot for a good ten minutes, until a bell rang in the distance, waking me up from my daze and called me to go back inside as well.

-

"Miriam's forces have been quiet lately. We do not know whether this is because they have been weakened in the last battle or because they are planning something. Knowing Miriam, it is most likely the second one," Schyth said to the other people present at the meeting, "whether it is the first or second, this quiet time has provided us with an opportunity to rest and recuperate. We can't let this chance go to waste. We have to be ready for the next attack."

"Sentries posted at our borders have reported nothing since the last battle, " the Dark Lord announced, "enemy activity has been kept down to a minimum. Normally, this would concern me a great deal, however, I think our troops deserve a rest."

"Yes! A rest sounds great!" Blade exclaimed, "I'm glad you see it my way!"

"You haven't done anything," Aella retorted."Why, you wound me, lady! I've been very busy regaining my energy!"Aella rolled her eyes, then turned to me. I gulped."So, Arcanus, don't you have something to say?" her eyes bore into mine. Shit. She knew. I was hoping to keep the news of the other hybrid to myself…evidently Aella had seen me fighting with the hybrid.

"Uh…yay for rest?" I asked meekly.

Aella just kept giving me that look. I gulped again. Damnit! Why is this woman so damn observant?

Finally, I sighed, then nodded to her. She sat back, satisfied. How is it that she always gets what she wants?

I cleared my throat to get the attention of the other council members. They turned to look at me, and I began to speak.

"Someone was at the last battle that I thought you should know about," I began.

"Was it that Gerardus guy? If it is, tell me! I have a bone to pick with him…literally," Kenneth growled, gripping his bone sword.

I rolled my eyes. Talk about a short attention span. "No it was not Gerardus," I replied, "it isn't someone who was at any of the previous battles. However…" here, I hesitated, not knowing how to proceed. I felt Aella's gaze on me again, urging me to say it.

"What is it, child?" Grendel asked gently.

Finally, I relented. "There was another hybrid like me at that battle. One who could use the powers of all four classes. I killed him, but it was difficult, very difficult…even for me."

If the situation wasn't so serious, I would have laughed at the stunned silence that followed my statement. But given the circumstances, I didn't think they would appreciate it that much. So I waited for them to say something. Make a comment, say anything that would break the unbearable silence…

"Nice eye," Blade finally said, and everybody released the breath they hadn't known they were holding.

I stared at him. "That's all you can say?"

Blade shrugged. "It was freakishly quiet, so I had to say something," he said.

I snorted. Can't this guy take anything seriously? It was hard to believe he was the elder brother of the calm, focussed Schyth.

"Are you sure of this, Arcanus?" Grendel asked, interrupting our discussion, "it may have been a trick of the mind…an illusion…"

"I know what I saw," I snapped, "I was fighting the guy!" Then I realized who I was talking to. Oops. "I'm so sorry, Master Grendel," I apologized, "I spoke out of line."

Grendel shook his head. "No, it's fine, my boy. However…if what you say is true…then that changes everything."

I looked confused. "How? It's just a coincidence, isn't it? I mean, there couldn't possibly be more…" I trailed off, and saw the expression Grendel's face.

"Unfortunately, Miriam has gotten so powerful, we no longer know what she is capable of. The arts she practices are ancient, and nearly all records of them have been lost. We know there was a time when all people lived in one village, unlike the four separate ones we have today. But that was centuries ago…even before old Grendel's time," Athena said.

"If she is somehow able to recreate the genes from the people from all those years ago, would it be possible for her to combine them with people now?" Frey asked quietly.

My mind was reeling. Recreate genes from people who lived over a millennia ago? The very idea seemed ridiculous, and so bizarre…and yet…

"We cannot make assumptions without evidence," Schyth said. Ceres nodded. "We need someone to research the legends in the archives. Find out exactly where this ancient village was, and if possible, go there. We need to see if our theory is correct."

"And if it is?" Frey questioned.

Ceres frowned. "If it is," she said, "we find some way to reverse it."

Frey stood up. "In that case, I volunteer to do the research."

Schyth looked at her questioningly. She smiled at him. "As a priestess, I'm not quite suited for battle. Going to battles and such with you would only hinder you, and in some cases, endanger you. I am happier on the sidelines, healing and providing care to those who need it. Since enemy activity is low right now, this is my chance to help out."

"You've helped out plenty," Felix said, "like that time-"

"Yeah," Kenneth interrupted, "Remember that time when you healed me when that big guy practically made me a human shish kabob with his huge Devil's Sunrise? You know, how he ever got behind me that time, I will never know, because I made sure to keep-"

"Yes, we remember, Kenneth," Aella interjected, amused. "It was a miracle that Frey was able to heal that hole in your chest."

"What we're trying to say is, Frey, is that your healing abilities have expanded greatly. We couldn't appreciate it more," Felix said kindly. Schyth smiled proudly at Frey.

Frey flushed at the number of compliments she was receiving. "Thanks," she mumbled.

I couldn't help but wonder what their lives were like before the Maple army was formed. They weren't older than me by that much - only a few years older, in fact. But to me, they seemed positively ancient. I guess that's what happens when you've seen too many battles in your lifetime.

I, myself, have seen lots of battles in my fifteen years. But up until this particular war began, I had lived a rather sheltered life. My parents, being the archer and warrior that they were, had opted to stay on the safe and quiet Maple Island. So you see, I was pretty much ignorant of the war between Hinyth and Byiachi.

These four, however, weren't. I guess you've got to grow up fast if you want to survive.

I was awakened from my reverie as Grendel spoke. "I will assign a few of our lower level magicians to help you, Frey," he said, "I don't want them to fight in the battles when they are so obviously unready for combat."

"Are you sure they are trustworthy, Grendel?" Schyth asked, "we can't have them leaking out information to Miriam."

"I have practically known them since they were in diapers," Grendel replied, "they will not betray us."

The other job instructors nodded.

"In that case," Blade yawned, "can we say this meeting is over? I need to catch up on some beauty sleep."

I rolled my eyes. It seems Blade was the only one who managed to keep his attitude like a child's.

Obviously the Dark Lord thought so too, as he snorted.

Grendel nodded. "That goes for all of you too. Get some rest, and prepare yourselves. Frey and I will let you know if we find anything in the archives. Dismissed."

-

**Author(s) Note:**

Wahh, Dolce here. Chapter two is finally finished! It took us a while, too. And see if you can guess which one of us wrote this chapter! Like I said in the AN in chapter one, Shortie and I will be working together to finish this story. Although I don't know how much of it will be written by me, and how much of it will be written by him. Well anyway, wish us luck! Ciao!


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